Bognor give Old Wellingtonians the boot

Bognor got their season up and running with their first victory since March - a comprehensive bonus-point 36-7 victory at home to Old Wellingtonians in London three south west.

The game started at a pedestrian pace but eventually the Bognor front row of Mark Ubsdell, Paul Eastment and Steve Worthington gained the upper hand.

After a great turnover at the scrum the visitors were forced to concede a penalty, Rob Parry slotting between the uprights.

Bognor began to implement their game plan with purpose and accuracy, only small errors stop them from increasing the lead.

After a missed touch kick by Parry, the visitors cleared their lines only for the impressive full-back Josh Burgess to punish them with a 60m angled kick to the corner.

Jack Tompkins and burly Jacob Masters dominated the lineout all day and a clean catch and quick hands by the back-line released man mountain Graham Broome down the wing and a classy sidestep and swerve beat the last defender for a great try out wide. Parry added the extras.

Great interplay in the middle of the park between Dave Sweeney and skipper Lee Balchin drew the Wellingtonians defenders out of their defensive line, and the skipper threw the inch-perfect pass to winger Broome to once again beat three defenders on his way to his second try out wide. Parry was again deadly with the extras.

Old Wellingtonians put some great phases together and had the home team under the cosh. Thunderous defence by Lee Thompson and perfect turnovers from veteran Nigel Mitchell prevented scores to keep the visitors at bay.

As the half drew to a close, Bognor had a special move up their sleeve.

George Castleton, returning to the first team to shore up and add class to the midfield, held the perfect ball up for sprinter Josh Riggall. As he glided down the middle of the park, with only the full-back to beat, his perfect dummy sent the full the wrong way to enable him to canter over the line. Parry again added the extras.

The second half was scrappy with Bognor conceding needless penalties and putting themselves under unnecessary pressure. Only great defence by Harry Dyer and the midfield of Sweeney and Dan Brock kept the visitors out.

Bognor relieved pressure through the boot of Burgess to gain good field position.

Worthington wrestled his pack forward to free the backline. A pass from Rob Legge was perfectly flicked on by Sweeney to give Parry the easy task of cantering over the line. The cool Welshman chipped over the extras with aplomb.

With the game over as a contest OWs went on the attack. Bognor were guilty of ill discipline that allowed their try line to be breached. Outstanding scrimmaging kept the Wellingtonians out but a good backs move sent their full-back over for a converted score.

Bognor had last word: Legge, having another great game at scrum-half, spotted a gap down the blindside and his sheer pace outstripped the back row and released man of the match Riggall flying down, with just the full back to beat.

His perfect chip at pace enabled him to re-gather and dive over in the corner.